Research by Xero has shown that three out of four New Zealand business owners are intending to sell their businesses in order to fund their retirement. However, 30% of these people don’t think their businesses can survive without their help. And 47% of these business owners don’t have a succession plan ready. Every hard-working business [...]

Time is a luxury, which is why the adage to spend it wisely exists. However, it’s impossible to make all the right decisions, and often times when we’re asked if we could “redo” or “remake” any of them, we’ll conjecture that there’s at least one thing we would do differently. These may feel like regrets, [...]

Before starting any business venture, it’s important to carefully plan its execution and management. This step – financial planning – is crucial to attaining the business’ purpose and objectives. Financial planning is intricately tied to a business’ core processes. It’s a necessary practice for any business owner and should be done regularly, ideally before every [...]

From April to June 2017 diversified portfolios again delivered generally positive returns, although at a more subdued rate than investors have become accustomed to in recent quarters. For much of the second quarter major markets were relatively benign, perhaps distracted by the prolonged attention given to two very important elections in Europe. The first was [...]

The financial industry is a magnet for jargon. Some of it can be useful, but some can be downright dumb. Top of the 'dumb' list would be a headline that has consistently appeared in many financial publications since 2009. That is, "The easy money has been made". This comment gives the impression that the past [...]

New Zealand shares +5.08% The local market bounced back from a weak final quarter in 2016 to post a strong start to the year. With improving global growth expectations, still supportive credit conditions and renewed strength in overseas equity markets, the New Zealand market enjoyed a very good quarter. Leading performers included Tower [...]

We are pleased to report that, once again, the markets have delivered another strong positive start to the year. This stretches the winning sequence to eight years in a row - since the Global Financial Crisis - where the January to March quarter has performed well. More impressively, in seven of those years (including this [...]

Most people seek happiness. Some economists even think happiness is the best indicator of the health of a society. However, while money can make us happier, studies show that after our basic needs are met, it doesn't make us that much happier. This has implications for financial planning because one of the biggest issues we [...]

As we begin 2017, we thought it might be appropriate to take a moment to consider how fortunate we are to live in such a great country as New Zealand. A recent reminder of this came from a nurse who had just returned from volunteering in an impoverished Pacific country. She described her efforts to treat [...]

If you want to build a reputation for credibility, don't join the mainstream financial media. They predicted financial Armageddon when there was increased volatility in China at the start of the year. It never eventuated. Then came the surprise Brexit vote at the end of June and the naysayers came out in force again. "As [...]